As a youngster, I grew up "in the country." Grandma's 40 acres was our playground. We had dogs and a few random cats along the way. Occasionally, there might be a flock of chickens around doing bug patrol. BUT, there were no goats, cows, ducks, geese, turkeys, hogs, horses, alpacas, or donkeys.
So, who would have guessed that my midlife crisis would consist of me bailing out of the city and away from the technology industry to a homestead?
Yes, Mom and Dad always had a garden. Dad was a beekeeper. Mom canned a lot of our food and sewed a lot of our clothes. Extreme southeast Oklahoma didn't have a booming economy. My folks made do. It was a simple life for me. I had everything I needed and a lot of the things I just wanted. Life was good.
I grew up. I had to get away from that backwoods place. I was going to be so much more and so much better than (you fill in the blank). So, I went to college. Then I joined the military. Got married. Had a couple of kids. Went back to college. Ended up with a job in Information Technology at a University. Life was good.
Life wasn't good. Got divorced. Dad died. Mom got cancer - twice. Lost the job. Yet, life was good. Got remarried. Found a place "in the country" to live. Started a garden the first year. Got chickens too. Then, my midlife crisis/change began in full. I started reading about the simple life. Milking my own cow. Keeping bees. Building a root cellar. Life was good.
Today, I am middle-aged and growing up "in the country" on our homestead. I have come to realize that stuff is just stuff. Life is where it's at!
